Why Are You So Obsessed With Rejecting Affection? - Chapter 74

“I like the Grand Duchy, this is perfect for inviting guests or relaxing. The banquet hall is also much bigger.”

“I see!”

“We put a fluffy and thick carpet in the hallway for you, Young Lady! We want you to have a comfortable and safe stay here.”

“Thank you very much!”

It was definitely a beautiful house. After looking around, I applauded sincerely and praised the mansion.

“This is a beautiful mansion!”

Eldeira’s cheeks slightly flushed, as if it was her I was giving the praise to. I looked up at her as she smiled. Then, I continued walking when I suddenly thought of something.

“Come to think of it! Where are all my friends? What about Miya and Kaiden?”

“They are waiting in the Young Lady’s room. I will guide you there now.”

No matter how thoroughly they give me a tour around the mansion, I think I will forget everything anyways! I immediately followed Eldeira to the room.

“Meooow!”

“Miya! It’s Miya!”

“Young Lady, you’ll get hurt if you fall when you run like that!”

Miya ran to me with a dangling blue ribbon on her. I immediately spread my arms and dashed towards her.

“Aiko, that’s a surprise!”

“Young Lady!”

Then, something sparkling suddenly appeared in front of my eyes and hugged my face. I was so scared that I fell down, but luckily, Eldeira, who was following me, caught me. What is this? I heard Miya crying under my feet as I was trying to remove the thing that was holding onto my face tightly.

“……Kai?”

I saw Kaiden looking at me when I finally brushed him off my face. Its purple eyes sparkling like jewels, shone with joy, relief and resentment from seeing me. Miya also rubbed her forehead against my leg, wrapping her tail around it softly, and expressing her love over and over again.

So you were lonely. My heart felt warm for some reason, then bit my lips and nodded my head.

“I’m sorry. Something happened yesterday. Did you sleep well here?”

“Kyuu.”

Kaiden let out what seemed like a sigh and hugged me. Kaiden would chase me around the White Rose Mansion, while Miya would run around here and there, then sleep well during the day without me. As for Kaiden, he really hated it when I would go out of his sight.

“Come on, dragon. You can’t dive so deeply into the Young Lady’s face. She could be seriously injured.”

Knowing Kaiden’s true identity, Eldeira spoke to him in a soft voice. Then she took out an opaque piece of cloth from her apron and put it on him.

“I already told him not to leave the room, but he’s here already.”

“Huh? Why?”

“He’s a dragon. It would be a total chaos, so if possible, the fewer people who know, the better.”

“That’s right…”

Eldeira murmured with a determined expression on her face. Even in the Grand Duchy, Kaiden’s presence was a well kept secret in the mansion.

“So, be careful not to let the dragon come out of the room. You need to be more careful than in the Grand Duchy.”

“Yes…….”

I looked at Kaiden’s gloomy, big eyes through the gap of the fabric. He didn’t want me to leave without him so I had to bring him here, but I didn’t want to lock him up.

However, it would be a big commotion if the fact that there was a dragon found in the Grand Duchy and not the Imperial Capital under the control of the imperial family. If a rumor spread that the legendary creature appeared in the Grand Duchy, I don’t know what kind of bizarre talks there would be about the Grand Duke, who is still surrounded by bad rumors.

I trudged into the room holding Kaiden and sat down on the sofa. I was worried, so I didn’t really go and see what the room Eldeira decorated was like.

“Lady, you look unwell. When I’m depressed, I like sweet cakes. May I bring you some?”

Seeing me sitting quietly and feeling down, Eldeira asked me carefully. She looked at me pitifully. I nodded my head as I pondered. Eldeira told me she’ll be back in a minute, and as soon as she left Kaiden let out a sigh again.

“If I had known this would happen, I guess I would have left you in the Grand Duchy somehow. You’re having a hard time…”

As I muttered quietly, Kaiden looked up to me as if comforting me. His face was saying that it was okay.

“Young Lady, please enjoy your meal. You have to pick your dress right away after you finish.”

Eldeira placed a whipped cream frosted cake topped with large strawberries on the table. As I grabbed the fork and ate it straight away, looking up at Eldeira, she smiled reflexively again.

“Won’t it be your first time meeting the Imperial Nobles on New Year’s Eve? I’ll make sure that you’ll hear the people say you are the best and prettiest young lady in the Capital!”

The people I met at my birthday party were all the vassals of the Grand Duke so technically, this would be my first time. A place to meet people from other noble families for the first time as the Grand Princess. Because our family hadn’t been in the Capital for several years already, we had to prepare so they wouldn’t treat us like easy targets.

“Thank you. Then I will eat this and call for Franc right away. She’s good at things like picking dresses.”

“I understand. But, aren’t the maids of our Blue House Mansion who are familiar with the fashion trends of the Imperial Capital more knowledgeable? If you keep them by your side and use them, they will definitely be of help.”

“Really?”

“Of course. We have always been waiting to help our master, and I hope you will get to know us better.”

Hey, it doesn’t matter who you are if you can do it more professionally. I looked at Eldeira with full of interest, wondering if there was a conflict between the mansions.

“Elde is really serious about this. Is there any special reason?”

I approached Eldeira’s arms, hugged her, and looked up at her.

While looking up at her, my eyes were urging her to go on and tell me. Eldeira then bit her lips and sighed.

“To be honest… it’s already been 7 years since the master visited the capital the last time.”

It is said that the deceased Grand Duchess gave birth to Deleign here and died shortly thereafter. The Grand Duke then went down to the Grand Duchy, declaring that he would never come here again with a sorrowful face.

‘Dad didn’t tell me that….’

If he had said something about that, I would’ve been alright staying in the Imperial Palace. I was very worried about how the Grand Duke would feel when he returned to the place where the Grand Duchess died.

But my safety was more important to him than his memories left by the scars. My chest throbbed so I blinked my eyes to stop tears from forming.

“I thought the Lord would never come back, but when I got the message that he would come to the capital for the sake of the young lady…”

“Are you somehow clinging on to me so we visit again?”

“Yes… it was presumptuous of me. I’m sorry, Young Lady.”

A butler and a maid couple who have grown old together while managing a house which the owner would never return to.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand how lonely they must have been. All the Grand Duke’s members of the estate that I’ve seen have all had a blind loyalty towards him.

I clung to Eldeira, who had lonely eyes, and patted her on the back.

“Though my father’s heart is the most important thing… I will ask him to come to the capital often if it’s okay with him.”

At my words, Eldeira nodded with a moved face. She answered ‘yes’ with an almost crying voice.

“Uh, Elde should eat cake. Didn’t you say that cake is the best when you’re depressed?”

Eldeira laughed lightly at my joke. Then she immediately brought Nina and Franc somewhere and instructed them to do the job.

“Lady, please come this way. The designer is waiting for you in the drawing room.”

“Excuse me, Head Maid. I know the ball will be in three days, so is it possible to prepare everything in that amount of time?”

On the way to the drawing room with Eldeira’s guidance, Franc asked in a cautious voice. Considering how long it would take to make a dress, it was certainly a reasonable concern. Then Eldeira smiled and whispered to Franc and me in front of the parlor door.

“The Master loves the young lady very much, so he prepared everything from the beginning and bought it all. All you have to do is choose.”

As I tilted my head, saying, ‘What do you mean,’ I looked inside the drawing room door and was shocked once more. Dresses carefully crafted one by one were strewn all over the place. Oh no, how much more did daddy spend?!

“Hello, Grand Princess. I am Madame Jacqueline.”

“She is the chief designer of the Pommel Shop.”

“I am…….”

The designers and assistants who were organizing the clothes inside jumped up and greeted me. As if they didn’t contract with just one designer, several designers greeted me so I was a little distracted.

My gaze went to a skinny female designer who stood among them and she greeted me with clear eyes. Then Eldeira whispered about her.

“Madam Jacqueline is the most popular designer in the Capital. She often makes dresses for the Imperial Family. All the other shops are also getting excellent reviews.”

‘Then the Empress or Azuela often wears her designs?’

I blinked in surprise and looked at Jacqueline. She was also wearing something stylish herself, and she also seemed to have a good sense of humor and business sense. Because she is so elegant and noble, the Imperial Family will call for her often and the dress worn by them would become even more popular.

I stopped thinking about whether she would make dresses for those two again.

‘But she seems really passionate.’

Jacqueline scoured my face with a passionate look, looking a little startled. Then, she narrowed her eyes at the realization of something. I didn’t know why she was surprised to see my face, so I tilted my head and her expression became calm the next second.

‘For now, let’s not worry about it.’

It was quite embarrassing that I couldn’t figure out why her expression was like that. I left Jacqueline behind and immediately turned my attention to the clothes in front of me.

“I think colorful patterns are popular now in the Capital, Young Lady.”

“It is the influence of the Empress and the Imperial Princess. They dress up in a fancy way.”

Looking at the very colorful and floral patterns, Franc muttered with ecstatic eyes. Then a designer quickly voiced a huff of complaint while she looked at Jacqueline….

‘Well, it seems that she’s jealous.’

Her gaze at Jacqueline was rather unpleasant as she is in charge of the royal dresses. In other words, there were quite a few people who were jealous of Jacqueline when I looked around. But Jacqueline didn’t change her expression at all, as if she was used to the envious gazes of other people and simply didn’t care.

‘I wish I had good skills.’

A designer liked by Azuela feels a little uncomfortable, but skill comes first. I kept a smile on my face and looked at the clothes and tried them on. But after a couple of hours, my smile was completely gone.

‘Oh my gosh… I’m going to die from choosing clothes…’

I was reminded again that dresses are nice to look at, but uncomfortable to wear.

I was completely exhausted after constantly trying on the dresses. Besides, everyone always said it was a dress fit for the Grand Princess so it was difficult to choose, because it looked pretty everytime I tried on one of the dresses.

“Grand Princess, these are the clothes I designed.”

Jacqueline was the last one to come out. While the other designers competed openly with each other to show off their dresses, she stood without the slightest change in her expression. It’s like she already knew that whatever she shows will win.

‘Something is different.’

She prepared just one outfit. There was only one dress, but it looked very colorful and beautiful.